Movie Analysis ;D

 Today is class we chose any short film we found interest in and got a rubric we can base our rating off!

the rubric; 

The title of my short film is; THE THING IN THE APARTMENT

I would give the film 20 points on the criteria that it keeps the story interesting and in my opinion holds the audiences' attention throughout the whole film. I think the opening of the film jumping into one of the main character (Sam) being called by her friend (Lindsay) who is panicked and scared of something going on in her apartment (there being a thing in the apartment ;D) keeps the audience hooked from the get go due to its suspense and tells us to expect our focus to be automatically needed to keep watching if we want to know what happens. I want to keep watching to find out what is going on and if she will be able to help her friend and not get tangled in the danger while trying to save her.

I would give the film 15 points for its demonstration of camera work and editing used to enhance the story. The view shifts—from Sam taking the call, to the zoom-in on her friend’s panicked face as she explains what’s happening, to the scene of Sam arriving at Lindsay’s apartment, followed by Lindsay running into Sam’s car, and finally the flashback showing what happened when they went back inside the apartment—all show that the lighting, camera shots, and angles were carefully thought out and executed as well as possible, even with a non-professional camera.

I would give the film 10 points for the enhancement of the story through its dialogue, but I would take points off because it has no background music, or any sounds such as maybe a heart beating fast to really bring the story to life to make me and the rest of the audience feel as though we're actually on the call listening in. The dialogue, however, I would say is realistic and broken up which enhances the suspense and unease/horror part of the story. Rather than using way too much dialogue to hook the audience it uses natural speech patterns such as, hesitation and repetition (Lindsay saying Sam's name again and again with tears in her eyes/in horror) to build fear in the audience, show the intimacy between Sam and Lindsay, and the repetition allows us to believe Lindsays fear because her speech is an actual human response to panic.

I would give the film 15 points for the compelling and interesting actors they used to intrigue the audience. I think the performances by the actors were very consistent, there is not a moment where they made me feel like I wasn't in the scenario with them in real time, they had me hooked onto their fear from the first scene of the phone call to feeling sympathetic seeing Lindsay crying for her friend Sam after she came to find out what is going on hearing her friend in distress over the call and getting tangled up/dying or getting eaten by whatever being got into Lindsays house. I think both actresses performances were very well done, as it is not quite a professionally done film, and very entertaining and fulfill their purposes in keeping the audience hooked.

In total I gave the film a rating of 60 out of 80.